This is Your Life
by 37slytherclaw73
Summary: The most unusual things can happen when we least expect them. And who would ever expect for Kaitlyn and Draco to fall in love? They're from two completely different worlds ... But can their love stand the ultimate test? DracoOC eventually
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing even remotely pertaining to Harry Potter. But you knew that, didn't you?

Prologue

_I don't know where to begin. There's so much I could say … so much I want to say …_ Draco paused, quill poised above a roll of parchment, and wearily ran his fingers through his silvery blonde hair. He still could not believe what happened, nor did he want to. He had never meant for it to end this way …

His distant gray eyes looked despairingly around the dark room. The cheery fire that danced in the fireplace did nothing to warm the icy cold within him. Outside the window, the moon hung low in the sky, eerily casting blue light and shadows upon his desk.

He moved from his chair to the fire and added another log. The fire crackled and sparks flew into the air before him like fireworks before falling back to the stone floor and diminishing. _Just like me,_ he thought sadly, poking the fire on last time and them returning to his desk.

He stared at the words on the almost blank parchment. It was uncanny really; he truly did have no idea where to begin. Words could not begin to describe what he wanted to say, and even then he did not know how to put it down on paper. He never dreamed he would write a book, but then of course, there were many things in his life these days that he had never dreamed of happening.

He pressed his fingers against his temple in an attempt to ease the headache that was setting in. He had never imagined that this would be so hard. He sat back down on the chair and dipped his quill in the ink. He raised it and began to write; the words came slowly, and when he looked down to read what he had written for the last thirty minutes, he realized that he liked none of it.

He got up again and this time walked to the window. It was a full moon tonight, he realized. A wolf howled and another answered, a sad and mournful tune. For a brief second, he himself wished to run outside and join them. He mentally slapped himself and shook his head. _Get a hold of yourself, Malfoy,_ a voice inside his head commanded.

Another wolf gave a reply quite close to the window, making him turn back to the table. He knew what he could write now, he realized, returning to the chair and once again picking up his quill…

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	2. Hogwarts Express and New Friends

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling… well, except the he character Kaitlyn Hess, who belongs to my friend and beta, and the character Victoria Wood, who belongs to me. Flames are allowed but they will be used to burn my school books. You are forewarned ;)

Other than that, I hope you enjoy reading this and I hope that if you enjoy this, or even if you don't, that you will leave me and my friend lots of comments.

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Chapter One – Hogwarts Express and New Friends

The train whistle blew jet again – a sharp, loud, ear-piercing whistle, and a cloud of gray smoke flew into the air. Kaitlyn pushed herself and her luggage through the jostling, cheerful crowd around her. Mothers tearfully hugged their children goodbye wile their fathers casually shook their hands and told them to be good and to write and to get good grades and to make them proud.

Kaitlyn paused in the pushing - that was obviously getting her nowhere - and wished for the first time in her life that her mother was here with her to tell her to she loved her and was so proud of her and not to get in trouble and to write to her everyday. But her mother was not here, she realized, and even if she were, she would have never said that.

She felt something, or someone, slam in her and she fell to the ground. The cart that she held her luggage fell on its side, spilling its contents everywhere. The person she had run into got up and brushed the dirt from his pants. He then looked down at her and glared; something akin to anger and hurt pride shining in his vibrant gray eyes.

"Watch were you're going," the boy spat, straightening his robes and turning on his heel to saunter off into the crowd.

Kaitlyn watched him go for a moment in dumbfounded amazement, her mouth hanging open in shock disgust. "Well, I never," she muttered angrily to herself. "Some people can just be so rude! He didn't even bother to stay and help."

She crawled over to the cart and pushed it upright - which was difficult task to do with a large crowd pushing and shoving around her - and began to look for her luggage, which had now managed to get kicked all over the place. People walked by and stared at her and the mess around her and she guessed she must be quite a sight. She reached and back and touched the messy knot of blonde hair that she had pulled back that morning was already undone and many of the strands hanging around her head in the oddest curls. She then looked down and saw that there was mud all over the knees of her new jeans and there was even a hole from where she had been crawling about on the rough floor of the train station. Her "Muggles Rock" had faired much better, with only a little bit of mud.

Kaitlyn let out an angry sigh and angrily threw one of her bags into a cart. "Great," she muttered, "here's another way to make this bloody nightmare even better! What could make this _perfect_ day worse, I wonder?"

"Hello, there," said a voice behind her, almost in answer.

Kaitlyn turned, still clutching the sides of the cart, to see a young girl - probably the same age as her - with long, dark brown hair and sparkling green eyes. The girl knelt down beside her and began to help pick up the few things that Kaitlyn had not gotten to yet.

"Don't worry," she told her in a think Scottish accent, "happens to the best of us. Why, when I was in my second hear I ran into poor Colin Creevey; nearly crushed him, too..." The girl continued talking as she helped store the rest of the luggage in the cart; she then got up and in turn helped Kaitlyn up as well. "The name's Victoria Wood, but most everyone calls me Tori, even the teachers call me that, except for Snape. I've never seen you before, I'm a Ravenclaw, sixth year, how about you?"

Kaitlyn smiled. "I'm in sixth year, too," she replied, she starting to push the cart again with Victoria following her, "and the name's Kaitlyn Hess. I'm not from around here, though; I'm a foreign exchange student from America."

Victoria laughed. "I thought you weren't from around here," she said, as Kaitlyn handed her cart to a man loading up the last of luggage onto the train. "Of course, the dead give-away was when you ran into Draco Malfoy."

"Is that what his name is?" Kaitlyn asked, as the two girls boarded the train. "What house is he in?"

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Slytherin, of course," she said in disgust. "I swear I'm going to punch that boy one of these days, or put a hex on him; wouldn't that be funny? He and his dad think that they own everything, it's so annoying –"

The shouts of three girls calling her name made her stop what she was saying; she smiled and waved. "Hello Parvati, Padma. Hey, Lavender," she greeted warmly. "There's some one I'd like you too meet: this is Kaitlyn. She's a foreign exchange student from America."

"So you're the one that ran into Draco?" one of the twins (Kaitlyn guessed her to be Padma, but she really didn't know – they both looked exactly alike) giggled. "You should have heard him complaining about how his new robes had gotten dirty."

"Yeah, well, these were my new jeans that he ruined," Kaitlyn huffed defensively. "If he wants to blame someone, it should be himself."

The girl Lavender smiled, revealing perfect, pearly-white teeth. "Oh, trust me, we believe you," Hopefully knocked so sense into him; but I doubt it."

The train's whistle sounded again and the narrow hallway began to fill up with kids. "Come on, Tori," Lavender said, grabbing her friend's wrist. "Let's go find a compartment before all the good ones are taken."

The four friends started to move off, but Tori stopped and looked back. "Come on, Kaitlyn," she said, ushering her over with the wave of her hand. "Come sit with us, there'll be plenty of room."

"No thanks," Kaitlyn replied. "I'll be okay."

Victoria smiled, "Okay then," she said with a quick wave, before running after her friends. "See you at dinner," she called over her shoulder.

Kaitlyn nodded and then began to push her way down the hallway. It was becoming emptier by the minute as students found their friends waiting for them in different compartments. Soon it was just Kaitlyn and a few others in the hallway. The train whistle blew again; it reminded her of her mother's voice: high-pitched and screaming. She finally found an empty cabin, stored the bag she had brought on the train with her on the rack above her head, and sat down next to the window.

She had just sat down when the cabin's door open again and three kids around her age, two boys and a girl, stepped in. Kaitlyn realized with horror that one of the boys was the same one she had run into just a few minutes before. _What did Tori say his name was?_ she thought. _Draco, or something, wasn't it?_

"It's no use," one of the boys was saying. "We'll have to sit in here, there are none left, unless we want to sit in the one across from Potter and his circus, but I think Victoria Wood and her gang took that one."

The boy, Draco glared down at her, and shook his head. "Oh, no," he said arrogantly, "I'm not sitting with _her_. She's the one that pushed me, Blaise."

Kaitlyn looked up at him in shock. _Pushed you?_ she thought angrily. _Yeah right!_ The train let off another whistle and lurched forward. The three kids were thrown into the compartment rather ungracefully as the train moved out of the station.

"Well I guess we'll have to sit here," the other boy, Blaise, said, throwing his bag on the rack and seating himself next to the bench opposite Kaitlyn. "Besides, you two won't be here long, you have to go patrol the hallways in a little bit."

Draco gave a reluctant sigh and threw his own bag onto the rack and sat down next to Blaise and folded his arms across his chest. "You know I don't like to sit with mudbloods," he muttered, nodding to her shirt.

Kaitlyn bit back a retort and looked out the window as the landscape outside flashed by. She felt the bench shift and creak as the girl sat down next to her.

"Who do you think she is?" she asked with laugh. "I've never seen her before. Do you think she's a first year? She's rather big to be a first year, though, don't you think, Blaise? Maybe she was held back – for a couple of years."

Kaitlyn bit her lip and continued staring out the window. She caught the boy, Blaise, looking at her in the window and he frowned. "What do you know, Pansy?" he asked. "I bet, she has a reason for being new, don't you?" He looked over and Kaitlyn, but she did not answer. "Or not, either way, what does it matter, it's none of our business."

The cabin grew silent; Kaitlyn looked away from the window to stare at her new companions, if that was what she could call them. The boy that had stood up for her was watching her intently, his blue eyes staring back hers. He broke their gaze and turned to Draco to whisper something to him, and pushed his shaggy brown hair out of his face. Draco laughed and whispered back to him and then looked over at Pansy, who seemed content reading a magazine. The girl that had thought her to be a first year had shiny black hair that was cut to her shoulders. She was so absorbed in her magazine that when Draco kicked her in the chin, she gave a load squeal and dropped her magazine onto the floor.

"What's this," Draco said, grabbing the magazine off from the floor and opened it to the first page, " Hear this, Blaise. Victor Krum's in love?" he said, pulling the magazine out of Pansy's reach as she made a desperate attempt to grab it. "And I thought he was in love with that stupid mudblood Granger; I guess he was just too good for her. Oh, wait, Blaise, listen to this: 'Are you tired of this zits? Here's the answer to that problem: bewitch them, it's virtually painless and promises those zits will be gone-'"

"Give it back, you prat," Pansy interrupted, finally tearing it from his hands.

The two boys broke out into a fit of laughter and shook their heads in amusement. "You actually believe that stuff?" Blaise snickered. "Come on, Pansy, next thing we know you're going to be reading 'The Quibbler.'"

"Oh, shut up, you two," Pansy said defiantly, "I can read whatever I want to without the mocking of the likes of you."

Draco rolled his eyes and got up to stretch. "Come on, Pansy," he said, moving to open the cabin door. "Let's go patrol the halls; I want to catch Potter doing something."

The two of them left, leaving Kaitlyn and Blaise to sit in silence. Once he knew both of them were gone, Blaise reached over and grabbed Pansy's magazine off the seat beside Kaitlyn and began to flip through it. "I don't know why she likes this stuff," Blaise said, looking up at

Kaitlyn. "The name's Blaise."

Kaitlyn nodded, but didn't look up from the window. "I know," she said curtly.

"You got a name?" Blaise asked, flipping a page in the magazine.

Kaitlyn sighed and looked up at him. "If you're trying to make conversation, give it up," she said in a hurt tone. "Especially after you and your little buddies had jolly good time making fun of me," she paused and looked back out the window were it was rapidly growing dark. "And the name's Kaitlyn."

The two fell back into silence, the only noises that could be heard were the sounds of Blaise flipping through the magazine, the rhythmic beat of the train's wheels, and the sounds of footsteps walking passed their cabin.

Draco and Pansy returned after a short while; the cabin was again filled with noise as the three of them laughed while Draco and Pansy recounted the numerous first years they had yelled at. Kaitlyn could feel Blaise staring at her at different points of the train ride, but she did not look up or say anything else.

An hour later, finally too bored to sit still any longer, she left the cabin to get changed into her new robes. They were nothing like the ones at her old school. There was a dark, gray skirt that went down to her knees and knee socks of a lighter gray color. Also, a crisp white shirt with a gray sweater, and then black robes that went over all of that. When she entered the cabin again, the conversation stopped immediately, giving her the distinct impression they had been talking about her. She walked past them silently and sat back down, resuming her gaze out the window.

Finally, the train pulled into the station with an abrupt stop and the four of them stood up to go. Kaitlyn silently threw her bag over her shoulder and followed the pushing crowd out of the train and onto the platform where a light drizzle was falling.

Blaise, his friends, and the rest of students were heading over to carriages lined up on the muddy road leading up to the Hogwarts castle. She made to follow them, but a great hand grabbed her shoulder before she could take a step.

"Oh no, you don't," said a deep, gruff voice behind her. "You're coming with me."

She turned around to see a tall, large man that she guessed to be a giant or perhaps a half-giant - she had never seen a real giant before - with a long, fuzzy brown beard holding on to her shoulder. In the other hand he held a great lantern that was he was waving in the faces in a group of frightened looking first years. "First years," he called, his hand still grabbing her shoulder, "First years, come with me."

Tori and her friends rushed past them laughing, their robes pulled over their heads so they wouldn't get wet. Tori stopped when she saw Kaitlyn and the giant and waved. "Hey, Hagrid," she called smiling. "Hey, Kaitlyn, see you at dinner!" She waved again and then took off towards her friends where they were waiting by an empty carriage.

The giant, Hagrid, shook his head and smiled. "Nice lass, that girl Tori," he laughed, and then looked down at Kaitlyn. "Didn't mean to scare yah, Dumbledore told me to make sure you came with me and the first years."

After Hagrid had gathered all of the first years together, he led them and Kaitlyn to a path away from the platform that took them to a long lake where boats were waiting. "Okay, you lot," Hagrid said, pushing his way through the crowd of whispering first years, "into the boats."

Kaitlyn was pushed into a boat along with six other kids. It was quite uncomfortable and, to make things worse, the seats of the boat were soggy from the drizzle. The only things that comforted her were the warm yellow lights shining down from the castle and the idea of a great dinner. They finally reached the other side and walked up flight of stone stairs that wound its way up the side of a hill leading up to the castle.

They finally reached the top and entered a warm room filled with marble staircases and whispering portraits. A woman was standing in the room waiting for them when they entered. She did not smile at them, but stared intently at them, her hands folded in front of her and her graying hair pulled back into a tight bun on top of her head. She nodded at Hagrid and said in sharp, but kind voice, "You can go, Hagrid. I'll take it from here."

She then turned to Kaitlyn and the first years and gave a small smile. "You must be our foreign exchange student and first years. Welcome. I am Professor McGonagall," she informed them. "Through those doors you well meet your fellow students and be sorted into your individual houses. Good luck."

She pointed to two large doors and ushered them through them into a grand room. The ceiling, Kaitlyn thought briefly, must have been enchanted, for it reflected to weather outside – dull, gray, and stormy. The hundred or more students that sat at long tables, candles floating above their heads, all turned when they entered. Professor McGonagall led them past four tables all of them filled with whispering and pointing students. Kaitlyn flushed when she realized that many of them were pointing and whispering about her. They passed the Slytherin table were she saw Pansy poke Blaise and say, not very quietly at all, "I told you she's a first year."

They stopped in front of the raised dais were the teachers and headmaster were sitting. From his seat, Hagrid gave her a small smile and wink. Kaitlyn looked over to the middle of the dais and saw a stool and on that stool sat a very old hat that looked like it might fall apart at the seams at any given moment. So she was taken back when a tear in the middle of the opened and began to sing. The students sitting at the tables, on the other hand, did not look frightened at all, in fact, they looked as if they had been expecting it.

The hat sang about the different houses, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff and about how they should stand together during times of darkness. Finally, it stopped singing and the tables broke out into applause and cheers. Professor McGonagall stood up and unrolled a long scroll that she had seemed to have hidden behind her back.

She looked down at the scroll and called out, "Alberts, Vanessa." A young girl, with dirty blonde hair, timidly approached the stool and sat down. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on top of the girl's head; it was far too large and slipped down past her eyes (which made a very comical sight and Kaitlyn would have laughed if not for the seriousness of the matter).

After a long pause, the hat finally called out, "Hufflepuff," and the girl took off the hat and half ran to a table of cheering kids. Professor McGonagall continued calling off names, but Kaitlyn ignored this. She felt so dumb standing her with kids half her size in front of hundreds of students. It made her remember a time when kids at her old school were lining up to play of game of muggle kickball. All of the kids had been chosen except for her and another kid, so she was standing there for the world to see...

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard her name being called. She looked up and saw Professor McGonagall standing next to the stool waiting for her and holding the magical hat in her hand. Kaitlyn took a deep breath and took a seat on the stool desperately trying to ignore the snickers coming from the Slytherin table as the teacher placed the hat on her head.

"Rather old for the sorting, don't you think?" the Sorting Hat whispered into her ear.

Kaitlyn frown and looked up into the hat. "You're a little too old, too," she hissed.

The Sorting Hat let out a small chuckle, but did not reply. "Hmm… let's see. What do we have here? Plenty of determination – perhaps a little too much; seems you'll so anything to get what you want. And a thirst to prove yourself, too, I see. And you're not at all short on selfish ambition, are you?" After a short pause, it continued. "I have the perfect house for you," he said to her, and to the waiting students, "Slytherin!"

Kaitlyn took off the hat and looked over at the table. The students were all leaning over and whispering to their fellow students. A few were clapping, one of them being Blaise. She walked down from the dais and sat down at the table. The whispers were more audible now and she picked up at least a few words like, "mudblood," "big first year," and "she's the girl that pushed Draco." She folded her arms across her chest and turned back to the dais.

She remembered what the Sorting Hat had said about the house of Slytherin. He had said that only the proud and the selfish could enter that house. Mum would agree about the proud part at least, Kaitlyn scoffed, her mood growing fouler. But the Sorting Hat had also said that only the

Purebloods could enter, and she was certainly not a Pureblood. No wonder they all were whispering, Kaitlyn thought angrily, not like it should matter to them, she added to herself. It's not my fault I'm not pureblood like them.

Finally all of the first years had been sorted and the headmaster, an older man with a kind, wise face and a long, white beard, stood up and said, "There is a time for speeches, but now is not it," he said with a chuckle. "Tuck in." Instantly the tables were filled from the floor to the ceiling high with food, ranging from salad to steak to dessert. Kids shouted back and forth cheerfully at each other as they helped themselves to the meal. Even Kaitlyn found herself enjoying herself with all the food she had piled on her plate, most of it being desserts.

"Hey," she heard a familiar voice say from behind her.

She turned around and saw the smiling faces of Blaise and Pansy. Her smile fell. "Hey," she replied, turning back to her food.

She felt the bench creak as Blaise sat down on her right side and Pansy sat down on her left. "We wanted to apologize for all that stuff we said on the train … not that we apologize often," Blaise added as he helped himself to the food in front of him. "So, sorry."

Pansy nodded. "Yeah, sorry," she echoed.

Kaitlyn took a bite of her food and slowly chewed it. "Where's your little friend?" she asked, after she had swallowed.

Blaise smiled and nodded over near the end of the table and smirked. "Oh, I think he's busy," he said, looking over at the girls that had surrounded Draco. "But he's not really all that bad. He's just been under a lot of stress lately. And then, not everyone's used to the idea of a mud...I mean someone other than a pureblood getting into Slytherin."

Pansy nodded. "Yeah, sorry about the train," she repeated with a smile. "I guess I'm kind of like that, you know, always saying what's in my head before thinking it over. My mum gets so mad at me when I do that."

Blaise snorted. "You _think _you're kind of like that?" he laughed, leaning over Kaitlyn and poking Pansy.

She shot him a glare, "Shut up, Blaise."

Blaise just laughed and nodded at the uneaten food on Pansy's plate. "Still on that diet, eh?" he smirked, taking a bite and dramatically sighing. "Oh! This is so good! Oh my gosh, and the pumpkin juice!"

"Shut up, Blaise!"

Kaitlyn smirked. At least two people in her new house were talking to her; maybe it wouldn't be as bad a school year as she had thought…

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Well, here was the first chapter, quite long. Lots of introductions and stuff of the sort, but ya'll have to get to know the characters…

Please, please, please review. Just say if you like it or not, and if there is anything I can change. I love criticism, but not flames (but you can leave them if you want, I'll just ignore them). P.S. – from your friendly beta: What she said… no reviews makes me sad. :(


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